1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inserts for vision improvement when used in goggles or facemasks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many examples of prior-art eyewear such as safety glasses, face shields, facemasks, goggles, sunglasses, and spectacles have been provided with additional vision aids such as prescription lenses, spectral filters, polarizers, and/or other optical elements to protect, enhance, or otherwise alter a wearer's vision. Some of this prior-art eyewear has these vision aids integrated permanently as components within the eyewear, and some as removable from the eyewear only by using removal tools. However, some others of this prior-art eyewear use optical inserts (i.e. inserts with vision aids) that can be easily installed or removed without tools. Nevertheless, there has been no means of providing wearers of certain low-profile, wrap-around goggles with additional vision aids (such as optical inserts with corrective lenses).
One product implements prescription lenses as integral parts of the window/lens of a pair of ski goggles and is shown on the Internet webpage at the URL address of http://www.sportoptical.com/.
Another product implements corrective lenses as integral portions of the window (or as lenses glued into place to the inside of a flat window) of a dive mask that has a single window for both eyes and is shown on the Internet webpage at the URL address of http://www.sportsgoggles.co.uk/ExtreemDivingMask.asp.
One example of prior-art eyewear is swim goggles for racing, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,040. These goggles are constructed with two integral windows that position respectively in front of a wearer's two eyes, with a respective seal positioned around each eye. They can also be constructed with one single window that is positioned in front of both of a wearer's eyes, with a single face-seal around both eyes. Whereas U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,040 doesn't disclose the use of corrective lenses integrated as part of goggles for correcting a wearer's vision, goggles that have corrective left-eye and right-eye lenses with respective seals do exist; these goggles are available with plus or minus spherical optical powers up to an absolute value of 12 diopters and plus or minus cylindrical optical powers up to an absolute value of 4 diopters. An example of these goggles with corrective lenses is found on the Internet webpage having the following URL address: http://www.opticsplanet.net/sportrx-sea-vision-prescription-swim-goggles-sc10.html.
Many prior-art inserts are mounted to a compatible attachment device which is part of the eyewear and located near the nose region of the eyewear. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,502,937 and 7,204,589; U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2007/0115424 and 2007/0279577; and U.S. Design Pat. Nos. 372,490, D537,103, and D537,104. Other examples include those inserts shown as products on Internet webpages at the following URL addresses:                http://www.night-optics.com/ts-rm-rx-dl-ins-404299100-rx.html,        http://www.peepers.com/sunglass-accessories/otheraccessories/smithoculardockingsystem.cfm,        http://www.tasco-safety.com/sglasses/sglasses11.html,        http://www.tactical-store.com/ts-wx-rx-nerve.html,        http://www.sportsgoggles.co.uk/TopGunShootingSpectacle.asp,        http://www.opticsplanet.net/picture-2-wiley-gg-x-cqc-rx.html,        http://www.gosportsspex.co.uk/Adidas_Robin_Ski_Mask_AndGoggle.asp,        http://safetyglassesusa.com/10505.html?productid=10505&channelid=BIZRA,        http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/epprsc-a.html, and        http://www.maximumeyewear.com/productfolder/motorcycle-glasses/motorcycle-glasses/prescription-goggles/prescription-goggles.html.        
Other prior-art inserts are mounted to compatible attachment or mounting devices within the goggles and located both at the nose region of the eyewear and at locations to the left of the left lens and to the right of the right lens. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,749,299 and 7,055,951. Other examples include those inserts shown as products on Internet webpages at the following URL addresses:                http://www.coopersafety.com/item/100115/Uvex-XC-Rx-Prescription-Lens-Insert.aspx, and        http://www.coopersafety.com/Gallery.aspx?itemid=100115.        
Inserts having structural members that extend upward, downward, leftward, and/or rightward to become trapped and held by layered structural elements of goggles or (in some cases) facemasks include products shown on Internet webpages at the following URL addresses:                http://www.888rxgoggles.com/care.html,        http://www.888rxgoggles.com,        http://www.opticsplanet.net/bolle-goggles-rx-adapter.html,        http://www.sport-spex.com/Goggles_Bolle_Sharkfin_Black_fade_Vermillion_Gun_Lens.asp,        http://www.opticsplanet.net/ess-striker-rx-insert-rxprescription.html, and        http://www.heavyglare.com/Prescription_Sunglasses_Options.php.        
One prior-art insert product has a rigid frame that is generally flat and mounts to a flat-windowed facemask by employing forward-extending standoffs at each of the right and left ends of the frame of the insert, such that the frame (and the entire insert) becomes spaced apart from the inner window surface of the facemask, and such that the frame ends with their standoffs lodge within the left and right ends of the facemask. This insert is not curved leftward or rightward and does not contact the facemask near a nose region. This insert is shown as a product on Internet webpages at the following URL addresses:                http://www.prescriptionswimgoggles.co.uk/GOGogglesPrescriptionDivingMaskinsert.asp, and        http://www.sport-spex.com/Goggles_and_Diving_Masks_Orca_Prescription_Dive_Mask.asp.        
U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,555 discloses an insert that can be used within goggles that have a single window and a single face-seal. In this reference, the insert is mounted to attachment holders such as pegs installed near the left and right ends of the goggles, and the entire insert is spaced apart from the window (“outer lens”) of the goggles.
One prior art mounts a tinted lens, though not an insert, to the outside of goggles by means of external attachment devices located near the left and right ends of the eyewear. A product of this description is shown on the Internet webpage at the following URL address: http://www.pro-vue.com/snap.html.
One example of prior-art eyewear of a wrap-around style is that shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. D537,098. This design patent shows a pair of goggles having separate left-eye and right-eye lenses positioned generally within the lines-of-sight of a wearer of the goggles, along with a single face-seal instead of individual seals around each of a wearer's eyes. Although no mention is made of how to provide such goggles with an insert, the drawings would seem to suggest that an insert can be used by mounting it to the nose-bridge region where there appears to be a slot provided on either side of the nose-bridge region to accommodate nose-pad supporting wires from an inserted frame holding spectacle lenses. Because of the presents of venting holes (as seen in FIGS. 1, 3-6 of that design patent), this goggle type spaces the goggle windows far enough from the wearer's eyes that there may be ample room within for an optical insert as well as structural elements with which to hold the insert in place.
Of particular interest is another example of prior-art eyewear that is a low-profile, wrap-around style of swim goggles as shown on the Internet webpage having the following URL address: http://www.aquasphereswim.com/us/products/sealxp_clr_trans.html. These particular goggles have two separate windows (one for each eye) and a single face-seal. These are called “low-profile” not only because the windows (also called lenses) of a pair of these goggles are curved to generally follow (i.e. wrap-around) the curved contour of a wearer's face in the wearer's left and right directions, but also because the windows/lenses of the goggles position very closely to a wearer's face. Both of these features, wrap-around windows and a low profile, result in less drag of the goggles through the water compared to larger goggles. But a problem with low-profile, wrap-around goggles, which have either two individual windows mounted within a single frame that is attached to a single face-seal, or which have one single window mounted within a single frame that is attached to a single face-seal, is that the prior art has not included a way to enable a wearer of such goggles to also use corrective lenses other than contact lenses. Reasons for this have been largely because of a) the difficulty of customizing corrective lenses as part of a curved window (or as components to be bonded to a curved window), b) the minimal amount of space within such goggles to contain and hold both an optical insert and corresponding mounting apparatus with which to mount an insert, and c) the apparent lack of structural features of the goggles to which an insert or insert-mounting hardware could be mounted or otherwise attached.
What is needed is a) to recognize a need to provide wearer's of low-profile, wrap-around goggles with means to use corrective lenses (or other visual aids) within such goggles; b) to provide an optical insert comprising corrective lenses or other vision aids that can be successfully and effectively used within such goggles; and c) to provide means for mounting an optical insert (i.e. an insert) within such goggles. It would furthermore be most advantageous if the means for mounting an insert within such goggles does not require structural elements (of the insert or of its means of mounting) that would interfere with comfortable and effective use of the goggles.